Does Park Slope Need a Stolen Stroller Squad?

Photo via Park Slope LensWhen I first heard that New York Times reporter Elissa Gootman's $400 baby stroller was stolen while left unattended outside, then written about IN the NYT, I almost took a sip of my cheap box wine just so I could do a TV sitcom, what-the-fuck spit take. Really?! 

However, Gootman wasn't putting her story out there to initiate a pity party. She recognizes the same thing that most of our commenters did when asked about laptops swiped in coffee shops: The irresponsible owner doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. 

Via the NYT: 

Yes, it was left outside, on a not-so-quiet street in Brooklyn. No, it was not locked up. Yes, I am fully aware of the fraught nature of complaining about the loss of a $400 stroller, one that epitomized privilege, and all that is loathsome about urban bourgeois parenting to begin with.

I did start mulling the question of who really was the victim here. Clearly it was not the baby, who would be just as happy or colicky in a worn hand-me-down, but the parents, who by definition not only can afford a $400 stroller but are also so cavalier about it that they leave it outside, unattended and unlocked.

Gootman called the NYPD's public information office and was told that because the stroller was valued at under $1000 it would fall into the heaping petty larceny category and probbbbably wouldn't be dealt with (shoulda' sprung for that pricey special edition black bugaboo cameleon). 

But what's a problem without a solution? My teenage acne circa 1995, mostly, but in this case, The Buggyguard. Parents fearing the theft of their Baby Trend Navigator Double Jogger can buy these cute little locks to help protect against thieving stroller monsters. However, after watching the instructional video I'm convinced that a toddler with strong hand muscles and a decent set of pliers could cut right through that shit. 

Because I don't even have a house plant let alone a child, I need to call on Park Slope breeder moms and dads on this one: Is stroller theft an issue in our neighborhood?